INSIDE Contactless MicroPass L4-2G Achieves MasterCard® PayPass™ Cast Compliance

Business Wire, Jan 29, 2007

MicroPass[TM]L4-2G Intelligent Hardware Platform Obtains CAST Security Compliance With MasterCard PayPass

AIX EN PROVENCE, France -- INSIDE Contactless, a world leader for contactless semiconductor chips and hardware platforms, today announced that it has obtained MasterCard[R] PayPass[TM] CAST (Chip Assessment Security Testing) compliance for the MicroPass[TM] L4-2G intelligent hardware platform. This fact, coupled with INSIDE's completion of digital and functional testing for PayPass, paves the way for card manufacturers to more easily obtain final approvals from MasterCard for manufacturing PayPass cards powered by the MicroPass L4-2G.

INSIDE's MicroPass L4-2G is a next-generation intelligent hardware platform, consisting of next-generation chip hardware, native operating system, and core payment applications for contactless transactions. Its innovative design enables optimum read distance and requires minimal power consumption for contactless bank card applications.

Coupled with the industry's fastest transaction processing speeds - typically less than 100 msec for a contactless transaction - MicroPass-powered PayPass credit and debit cards provide a consistent and reliable experience for cardholders, and a highly cost-effective platform for card manufacturers. Key enhancements in the MicroPass L4-2G platform include multi-brand support, multi-application support, along with performance optimizations. MicroPass has been the solution of choice within the US bank card market for contactless payment applications with more than 12M units sold since launch.

"This achievement showcases the positive impact that companies such as INSIDE are having on the contactless marketplace, which continues to expand globally," said Cathleen Conforti, senior vice president and global PayPass product manager, MasterCard Worldwide.

"INSIDE has been working with MasterCard over the past year to provide greater visibility into MicroPass core security design, features, and implementation," said Bernard Vian, VP Payment Product Line. "As a result of our commitment to security and quality, we are very pleased to have obtained CAST certification for MicroPass L4-2G. INSIDE remains committed to continual advancement in the security features of our core products."

INSIDE also announced today that it is actively involved in the MasterCard[R] Vendor Program (MVP) for 2007.

About MicroPass[TM]

MicroPass is a family of intelligent hardware platforms designed to power open standard contactless and dual interface bank card payments in all global regions. Based upon a RISC architecture and optimized to the demanding requirements of contactless transactions, each of the MicroPass family of products feature low power consumption, fast transaction processing, and overall performance meeting the demands of issuer organizations in the bank card payments, transit, and access control markets. MicroPass is the platform of choice for card manufacturers and issuers in the US market with more than 12 million bank cards deployed which are MicroPass-powered. INSIDE's MicroPass L4-2G is an enhanced, next-generation microprocessor-based contactless chip platform designed specifically to meet multi-payment brand and multi-application requirements within the US contactless payment market. With very low power requirements, MicroPass also remains the most suitable core platform for key fob and alternative form factor deployments.

About INSIDE Contactless:

Founded in 1995, INSIDE is headquartered in France and with global presence in China, Singapore, Poland and the USA. INSIDE is uniquely positioned as the only fabless semiconductor company solely dedicated to the advancement of contactless technology, leveraging one of the industry's largest intellectual property portfolios. Through strategic emphasis in Contactless Payments and Near Field Communications (NFC), INSIDE has been on a rapid growth track over the past two years with more than 12M chips delivered for contactless payment cards in the US market and a dominant position in driving NFC standardization and pilot deployments. For more information, visit www.insidecontactless.com.